The people of Burwell referred him as John Doe simply because that’s what the papers had called him. “A John Doe of about seventeen or eighteen years was found, bruised, battered and unconscious,” the article had read. It had been a stormy night, that June 1st and thus the small Midwestern town had closed up early as everyone wished to remain in the safety of their homes. That was why no one had seen the two men enter the town, and why when the townspeople told John’s story over and over again at the local diner, he always appeared, not arrived, in town on June 2nd. An Englishman, as they had learned the first time he had spoken, and a corpse appearing in the middle of the main street of this tiny town was of course a story they had to tell.
John remained unconscious for nearly two weeks. During this time the town ran wild with stories where John was both the murderer and the victim. For any who had actually seen the corpse, though, John was always the victim.
Michael Krummel was Burwell’s only garbage man. He always got an early start so he could beat the heat of the day. So on that fateful June 2nd, it had been he who had found the two bodies. He would always say that he didn’t even notice John at first, because the corpse was so intriguing. The whole body was pale, almost translucent, and the face had no nose, just slits. But what always caused Mike to tremble were the bright red eyes that were wide open, almost staring. Those eyes looked so evil that Mike knew, even if John had killed this man, it was most definitely justified.
Shortly after June 2nd, the mortician’s report came out. It turned out that his examination found that there was really nothing wrong with the body, save that it was undeniably dead. This sent another round of wild tales streaming throughout Burwell. Yet, it was such an unexplainable event that quickly the scandalous stories died away and the interest grew in John Doe himself.
They wanted to know who he was and who the man with him was. They wanted to know where, why, and how he got so scraped up. His appearance in Burwell was one of the few exciting things that had ever happened, and everyone wanted to know everything from his name to how he got a peculiar lightning shaped scar on his forehead.
However, when John Doe awoke a fortnight later, everyone was disappointed. He remembered nothing about his past, not even his name, and so when he was released from the hospital a few weeks after waking and taken in by the McGrath family, he became forever in the eyes of the Burwell people, John Doe.
The McGraths were an elderly couple whose children had long since moved away. They were glad to take John in and they often let him know that he was welcome for as long as he wished to stay.
Thus, John became a part of the Burwell people’s life. They got used to his shaggy black hair, and bright green eyes. They grew accustomed to his quiet manner and they even stopped staring at his lightning shaped scar. But even with time, it was hard for them to expect the strange things that often occurred around John Doe.
It was mostly just small things: glassware unexpectedly breaking every time someone teased John about his memory loss, or knives and plates mysteriously shaking when the local kids would make fun of the McGraths in front of John. Only the very superstitious thought it was possible for John to be making these things happen, but still, most in town were careful about what they said when John was around.
John spent his first year in Burwell mostly attempting to regain his memory. He had little to go off: just a picture of the body found next to him, a stick of wood shaped like a conductor’s baton, and a dream that John had almost every night. Since the first two items sparked no recollection whatsoever, the therapists John visited focused mostly on his dream. It was always the same: bright flashing green light, screams of horror, and in the midst of it all a girl with a mane of red hair. It was the girl who intrigued the therapists most. They tried to get John to describe her, but all he could ever see in his dreams was her red hair. The brightness of the green light hid the rest of her features. After a year and many different therapists John’s dreams hadn’t given any more insight and so John was left to remember on his own.
He didn’t know why, but John knew that if he could just see who that girl was, he would remember who he was. He felt connected to her and knew that she had to have been very important to him. But every time he dreamed, it was always the same; green light and red hair. And while sometimes she got closer to him, a scream from the back of his mind would always startle him awake before he knew who she was.
After about three years people started encouraging John to accept his new fate, his new life and to not worry about the old one. At the McGraths’ urging he got a job as a teller in a bank. His friend Michael even set him up on a few dates. John did his best to be happy. He knew how much it meant to those who had so selflessly taken care of him. But deep inside John was miserable and desperate to learn about his past.
John Doe and the Wizards' Society by hallie_p
Chapter Notes: This is JK Rowling's world, I'm just playing in it. And as always I appreciate reviews.